MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on 90 years after the Holodomor: recognising the mass killing through starvation as genocide
12.12.2022 - (2022/3001(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Viola von Cramon‑Taubadel, Francisco Guerreiro, Ignazio Corrao, Rosa D’Amato, Hannah Neumann, Sergey Lagodinsky, Reinhard Bütikofer
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0559/2022
B9‑0561/2022
European Parliament resolution on 90 years after Holodomor: Recognising the mass killing through starvation as genocide
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and Russia, in particular its resolution of 23 October 2008 on the commemoration of the Holodomor, the Ukraine artificial famine (1932-1933)[1],
– having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,
– having regard to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
– having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,
– having regard to the 2003 Ukrainian Rada resolution declaring the deliberate famine as an act of genocide,
– having regard to the 2003 Joint Statement on the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor) by the United Nations,
– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide criminalises a number of acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group; whereas these acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group;
B. whereas the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin’s regime in order to force through the Soviet Union’s policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine and plausibly to obliterate Ukraine’s independence movement; whereas the mass killings through starvation were used as a means of suppressing the Ukrainian national identity and reversing the process of ‘Ukrainianisation’;
C. whereas similar cruel methods were used by Stalin’s regime in other parts of the Soviet Union, particularly in Kazakhstan, Belarus, the North Caucasus and elsewhere; whereas the systematic killing of predominantly rural Ukrainians was often accompanied by agitprop scapegoating peasants and depicting them as culprits in the famine;
D. whereas the commemoration of crimes against humanity in European history should help to prevent the occurrence of similar crimes in the future; whereas the authoritarian regime in Russia led by Vladimir Putin is pushing an ideologised historical policy that prevents a reappraisal of Stalinist crimes, including the Holodomor; whereas the court-ordered closure at the end of 2021 of the human and civil rights organisation Memorial International, which among other things deals with the reappraisal of Soviet crimes, underscores the revisionist ideology of Russian historical policy;
E. whereas Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its destruction of Ukraine’s energy and agricultural infrastructure, including its blocking of Ukrainian grain exports and the fact that it has stolen several million tonnes of grain, have renewed fears of large-scale man-made famine in Ukraine as well as in the Global South, which depends on affordable Ukrainian grain;
1. Commemorates all the victims of the Holodomor and expresses its solidarity with the Ukrainian people who suffered in this tragedy, in particular the remaining survivors of the Holodomor and the families and relatives of the victims; pays its respects to those who died as a consequence of these inhumane crimes committed by a totalitarian regime;
2. Strongly condemns the Holodomor as a crime against humanity, which could be recognised as genocide according to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
3. Calls on the countries which emerged following the break-up of the Soviet Union to open up their archives on the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933 to comprehensive scrutiny so that all the causes and consequences can be revealed and fully investigated;
4. Expresses its wish that the commemoration of the Holodomor and an increased awareness of the totalitarian crimes of the past may contribute to preventing the repetition of similar crimes in the present and the future and combating them with resolve, particularly in view of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine;
5. Condemns the Russian regime’s abuse and manipulation of historical memory for the purpose of political ideology, and calls for international pressure to be exerted on the Russian Federation, as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, to cease denying the Holodomor and to officially apologise for it;
6. Calls on all EU institutions and the Member States to support academia and civil society in documenting, researching and educating about political repression and totalitarian crimes in the Soviet Union, as well as to actively denounce and refute all attempts at distorting historical facts or manipulating public opinion in Europe through false historical narratives that are fabricated and disseminated to support the ideology and survival of criminal regimes;
7. Reiterates that Russia’s current war of aggression against Ukraine highlights the need for a thorough historical and legal evaluation of, and a transparent public debate about, the crimes of the Soviet regime, most importantly in Russia itself, in order to raise public awareness, build resilience against disinformation and distorted historical narratives and prevent the repetition of similar crimes;
8. Calls for the EU, its Member States and its international partners to continue providing all necessary political, financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the President, Government and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
- [1] OJ C 15E, 21.1.2010, p. 78.